Baltimore Police to receive Blackberrys

I pulled this from one of the police magazines we get at our department, and thought it was a pretty cool change of pace news article. I have played with this program, and its pretty cool. Here is the address if you want to read it on line, but I also cut and pasted the article below. Enjoy!

Baltimore’s police department will become one of the first agencies in the nation to issue every patrol officer a BlackBerry that allows for instant warrant checks, according to city officials. The city’s Board of Estimates approved using $5.3 million in federal stimulus money for the police department, including $3.5 million to buy 2,000 of the BlackBerrys, known as “Pocket Cops.” The devices allow officers to run warrants, check vehicle registrations, and pull up criminal histories and suspect photos.

The department has been using more than 100 of the devices in a pilot program in the city’s western district and in specialized units. The 2,000 additional devices should be enough to equip every regular patrol officer with one, police said.

Early reviews for the devices have been positive. Officers using Pocket Cops made twice as many arrests over a three-month period than those equipped with radios or laptops, according to statistics provided by the department. They also hauled in more offenders on outstanding warrants.